Young Professional Industry Experience 2016 kick starts

Seven aspiring young industry professionals yesterday (31 May) started a unique three-week intensive programme that will give them the opportunity to visit and understand all aspects of the furnishing sector.

Now in its third year, the Young Professional Industry Experience is open to young professionals and graduates who are progressing well through early employment and have dreams of becoming future leaders of the industry.

A total of 18 industry partners participate by opening up their doors and show our candidates a snapshot of how their businesses are run, casting light on all aspects of the industry.

Yesterday candidates spent the morning learning about intellectual property (IP) rights with Dids Macdonald OBE, CEO of Anti Copying in Design (ACID); Nick Kounoupias, ACID’s chief legal counsel; Margaret Briffa, IP lawyer and founding partner at Briffa & Co; Chris Haywood, solicitor at Sipara; Gavin Llewellyn, IP lawyer at StoneKing LLP; and Phillip Partington, senior solicitor at Virtuoso Legal.

In the afternoon, Sally Bendelow, creative product director at Not on the High Street, gave a session on empowering creativity through entrepreneurship.

Keep a lookout for guest blogs from this year’s seven young professionals on our website over the next few weeks.